Madam Chair, the documents in question must be translated before they can be distributed to members. Mr. Nadeau, my Bloc Québécois colleague, made some excellent points. Specifically, he said this:
[...] the two official languages are French and English. That being the case, then the clerk's office has a responsibility to ensure that the documents are translated for the benefit of committee members.
I tabled a motion calling for all documents to be translated and the committee unanimously endorsed it. I'm sure all members remember my motion. I know that Mr. Martin from the NDP agreed that all members should have equal access to documents. That's why I'm very concerned, Madam Chair, and why I'd like to know if the documents that Mr. Gillani recently turned over to the committee were sent to members of the media before they were translated and before the committee members for whom they were originally intended had access to them. We know the documents were circulated to the press because mention was made of them yesterday in a Canadian Press release. Canadian Press reported that the documents had recently been turned over to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. You must certainly know, Madam Chair, that you were the only committee member to have had access to the documents. You said so yourself and, if you will excuse my pronunciation, you said, and I quote, “there are 725 pages of information that I have taken a look at”. Obviously then, you were the one who circulated these documents to the media before they were translated and before members had an opportunity to see them. Therefore, Madam Chair, I would like to move the following motion, and it will be distributed in both English and French:
That the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates report to the House at the earliest opportunity that the rights and privileges of members on the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates are believed to have been infringed upon; the Committee therefore requests that the Speaker of the House of Commons investigate this matter in a timely fashion and rule on whether the rights and privileges of members have been infringed upon; and that in the interim the member from Don Valley East should recuse herself temporarily and immediately of all duties as the Chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.